Bank of America's return-to-office policy just got more foul

Bank of America, the second-largest bank in the U.S., is growing impatient with its workers who have not been complying with its return-to-office policy and is now allegedly threatening them with “disciplinary action,” according to a letter shared by an alleged Bank of America employee.

“You are receiving a letter of Education for failure to follow the minimum expectation regarding your work location set by the Workplace Excellence Guidelines despite requests and reminders to do so,” read the letter. “Failure to follow the workplace excellence expectations applicable to your role within two weeks of the date of this notification may result in further disciplinary action.”

The letter also informs the employee that they have to adhere to all of the guidelines and rules set within the company.

“As a reminder you must comply with all Bank of America policies, procedures, guidelines, and conditions of employment including but not limited to those set forth in the employee handbook and Bank of America code of conduct,” read the letter. “Failure to meet expectations of your role in the future may result in further action.”

The move from Bank of America comes after it reportedly updated its return-to-office policy in October 2022 where it told employees in a memo that travel and work-from-home policies will depend on the job position and business at the company. Some employees are required to be at the office three days a week, and others have the option to work from home for a certain amount of days a month.

Wall street executives have recently been honing in on employees who work remotely and have been tracking their compliance with return-to-office policies.

(L-R) Wells Fargo CEO and President Charles Scharf, Brian Bank of America Chair and CEO Thomas Moynihan, JPMorgan Chase Chair and CEO Jamie Dimon, Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser and State Street CEO Ron O’Hanley, testify during a Wall Street oversight hearing by the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs committee on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, December 6, 2023. SAUL LOEB/Getty Images

Banks such as Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan began monitoring employees’ in-office attendance by tracking their ID badge swipes that allow them to enter office buildings. Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser has also revealed that the company tracks the productivity of its remote workers and will require them to return to the office if they aren’t being productive enough.

“You can see how productive someone is or isn’t, and if they’re not being productive we bring them back to the office, or back to the site, and we give them the coaching they need until they bring the productivity back up again,” said Fraser at a Bloomberg event in 2023.

The push for in-office work could backfire on employers as full-time in-person and hybrid workers have reported that they were more unhappy at work than their full-time remote colleagues, according to a recent survey by ResumeBuilder.com. Almost 40% of in-person workers reported that they were unhappy at their jobs while only roughly 15% of hybrid and about 12% of remote employees reported they were unhappy.